Total Collapse
by DarkMaster98
Summary: Without warning, the world is beginning to crumble. Nothing lasts forever, but this might not be normal decay. Why is this happening? Will anything be able to survive? How long until the world hits the point of Total Collapse?
1. Initialize

**Dark: Hello everyone, Dark here!**

 **WB: So you really are returning, then?**

 **Dark: Indeed I am, with a new story!**

 **WB: Well, let's hope this actually is your resurface, and not just your last desperate breath for air as you slowly sink to the ocean floor.**

 **Dark: I'll try to stay buoyant. This is supposed to be a somewhat short story, so a proper conclusion should be reached this time. Anyways, without further ado, enjoy!**

* * *

 _Chaos. Fire everywhere. Everything disintegrating. Panicked screeches from mobs of all types. The sky itself seemed to be crumbling, and an insufferable screeching noise rang throughout the air. There was a brilliant flash of light, a shadowy figure grabbed me, then everything faded to black._

I suddenly jolted awake from my nightmare. Trying to fall back asleep was pointless, so I yawned and gave my arms a good stretch. As I woke up this morning, something seemed off on what should've been a perfectly normal day. I couldn't place the feeling, but somewhere in my mind, something was warning me that things were going horribly wrong. These feelings persisted in their urgency, even as I put on my iron armor and sorted my inventory.

My first thought was that the cobblestone generator I constructed yesterday was burning my house down, and I cursed myself for placing lava anywhere near wood, though I was sure I had completely protected the wood with obsidian surroundings. However, my house was perfectly fine around the generator area when I went down to check, with no visible burn marks to be seen on any of the walls or the ceiling. The obsidian seemed normal aside from a small crack, which wasn't enough damage to require repairs. My most immediate concern was dismissed, but the feeling persisted, so I kept considering the other possibilities.

I checked outside my windows, watching for potentially dangerous mobs hiding behind the trees. No stray skeletons, no creeping creepers, and none of those cursed witches in sight. My horse was just where I had left it as well, lassoed to a tree. I let out a sigh, then promptly felt sick. It took me a second to realize that I had a new cave spider bite on my right leg, and poison was running through my veins which would drain my energy. A tiny cave spider crawled onto the windowsill just then, and I promptly killed it before it could do more harm. Another slightly larger cave spider crawled above my head, and I killed that one too. I then realized my house might be infested with cave spiders, which was a thought which almost made me hurl.

Quickly, I ate one of my Golden Apples to recover my strength, then I assessed my current situation. The only possible reason I could think of for this invasion was that the cave tunnel I'd opened last night after building the generator somehow connected to an abandoned mine shaft, and my new roommates had infiltrated through the open entrance tunnel and into my house while I had slept. My theory was confirmed when I went in to check the tunnel, finding stray webs lining the walls and floor of the path. A cave spider crawled through the tunnel just then, and I barely had enough time to react before it started attacking me. As soon as I stepped out of the tunnel to give myself more room to fight, it pushed itself past me and crawled away. I found this weird, since hostile mobs usually tried to finish me off. Come to think of it, why didn't that other spider try to finish me in my sleep? I was clearly vulnerable, it would've had little trouble finishing me off. It's almost like the cave spiders were trying to get away from something in the cave, and I was just happening to get in their way.

I shrugged, and blocked off the cave so the cave spiders couldn't get out. If they were running from something, hopefully whatever was bothering them would kill them so I wouldn't have to do it myself. I hated fighting cave spiders, since their poison was not exactly a fun thing to experience. As I turned to go back home, the closed hole I had just sealed suddenly exploded behind me, and I was thrown onto my face. It took me a few seconds to regain my senses, but when I looked back at the entrance, a larger hole had opened up, and I could faintly smell gunpowder in the air. The cave spiders continued leaving, followed now by larger spiders who were able to fit through the enlarged hole. Something was very clearly happening inside that cave, and it wasn't just the cave spiders who were affected, as the explosion proved. Spiders typically don't explode, nor do they have the hands or intelligence necessary to create or detonate TNT.

I was curious to find out what the mobs were so afraid of, so I dug an alternate tunnel through the stone into the cave. It seemed slightly easier to cut through the stone than usual, but I didn't take much notice of this fact. As soon as I popped out through the other side, I was greeted by a zombie who shoved me out of the way and shuffled out the new exit without even bothering to attack me, followed by a skeleton who didn't even lift its bow in my direction. They started burning in the sunlight, but neither came back into the tunnel for protection, and instead kept going towards the forest. I didn't expect much from the zombie, but it was strange that the skeleton kept going as well, which suggested to me that something was seriously wrong inside the cave.

Against my best judgment, I kept going through the cave, and passed several more normally hostile mobs who didn't care about my presence. The only one who even looked at me was a witch, who just stared briefly at me like I was crazy, then she kept moving as well. When I turned the corner, I found the mine shaft which had now truly been abandoned, but nothing seemed particularly off about it. I walked around for a while and couldn't find anything dangerous besides the occasional mobs who were still trying to get out. An hour later with no progress, I decided to give up. A lava pit was nearby, and I had my water bucket with me, so I decided to get some more obsidian, maybe to build a portal with it or to reinforce my generator.

As I poured the water onto the lava, something strange happened with it. The surface lava cooled into obsidian, but unlike the solid chunks I was expecting, I only got a fine dust, which the remaining lava in the pool began to seep through. Adding more water to it kept giving me the same result, until I had a pool of obsidian dust. I tried pressing the dust together, I mixed it with water, and I even tried spitting on it, but I couldn't get solid building obsidian. As far as I knew, obsidian wasn't supposed to form as dust. Another pool of lava was nearby, so I tried doing it there, but with the same result. I pulled a piece of my obsidian out of my pocket and set it down on the mine floor. It looked completely normal, and I wondered why the obsidian I was trying to make wasn't turning out the way I wanted it to turn out.

As I tried to pick up my obsidian, it suddenly collapsed into the same obsidian dust as the dust I had just created. In my annoyance, I threw the dust at the wall. The part of the wall I had thrown the dust at promptly collapsed, and the dust made me start coughing. This was soon followed by an ominous groaning, and I decided that I had overstayed my welcome in this cave. This might have been what the mobs had been so afraid of, but I didn't have time to think about it due to the highly likely possibility of an imminent cave-in. I broke into a run, right as the ceiling above where my head just was collapsed in on itself. Yep, definitely time to go.

Stone all around me began to crumble, and I had to run as fast as I could just to avoid meeting my death by way of suffocation or blunt trauma. I tripped over an exposed rock, and fell flat on my face for the second time that day. I rolled to the side just as a sharp piece of flint came crashing down, barely dodging a flint shard to the knee that would've ended my days as an adventurer. I picked myself up and continued running. I turned the corner to the tunnel's exit, just as the roof of the tunnel collapsed, trapping me inside the collapsing cave. I reached for my pickaxe, but couldn't find it in my inventory. I looked around and saw it on the ground back where I had tripped, but a falling part of the roof buried my pickaxe before I could reach it. I pulled out my shovel and started trying to move the rocks which buried it out of the way, but then felt an excruciating pain, followed almost immediately by a loss of consciousness.

* * *

 **WB: You're really going to complete this, right?**

 **Dark: Yes, I swear I will finish this.**

 **WB: I'm going to kill you if you don't.**

 **Dark: I know, I know.**

 **WB: Good.**

 **Dark: So, this was the first chapter of Collapse. I hope you enjoyed, and I hope to see you next chapter!**


	2. Ignition

**Dark: Hello, I have returned!**

 **WB: Oh good, so this story won't immediately die in the fiery depths of the Nether.**

 **Dark: I really do want to finish this. I will finish this story, even if it kills me.**

 **WB: Maybe don't go that far, how would you continue writing if you died?**

 **Dark: Good point. How is your poetry going, by the way?**

 **WB: I'm trying, but with you crowding my thinking space now, its become a little harder to focus.**

 **Dark: Sorry, but not much I can do about that unless you find your own body.**

 **WB: Wish it were that easy. So, you gonna continue this story or not?**

 **Dark: Yeah, we've talked long enough. Anyways, without further ado, let's continue!**

* * *

When I came to my senses, I found myself nestled between some rather pointy stones and what was most likely the cave floor. My eyes met nothing but the embrace of pure darkness when I opened them, so I pulled out a torch to get some light so I could analyze my situation. Judging from how my shovel was wedged in the surrounding rubble, I appeared to be trapped in a small air pocket that formed as a result of my shovel that was holding back a rather large boulder which otherwise would've crushed me. I didn't know how long my shovel would last before it snapped under the pressure, so I had to find a way out of my current predicament before I either ran out of air or became ground meat.

My pickaxe was nowhere to be seen, most likely destroyed by the surrounding rocks. I'm not an expert on gravity and how rocks fall, but moving the shovel that was keeping me alive probably wouldn't be my brightest idea. Speaking of bright ideas, lighting a fire with my flint and steel wouldn't help me at all, it would do nothing against the rocks, and it would only serve to kill me faster. I could kill myself faster if I got desperate, but seeing the afterlife right now isn't on my current list of travel plans. The torch is risky enough, slowly draining what little oxygen I still have to work with. I looked through the rest of my inventory, to see if anything else would be useful. My Ender Pearls serve no purpose in such an enclosed space, my TNT would likely kill me before it saved me, and my wood...

Right, how could I forget? With the plethora of stone around me to work with, enough wood to create a crafting table, and just enough left over after that for sticks to create a handle, I could craft a pickaxe that could get me out of here. I looked around me, and I encountered a new issue; I didn't have enough room in here to put down a crafting table. I didn't want to start moving rocks around for fear of disturbing the balance, but I didn't have much of a choice. After picking up a few suitable stone piece candidates for a new pickaxe, I carefully started to clear a small opening for the table. Thankfully, none of the bigger rocks shifted much, and I soon had enough room to put down the table.

This new addition to my space didn't leave me much room to work, but I only needed it for a few seconds anyways. I was worried about whether the stones would stay together, but they seemed to work just fine in the construction of the pickaxe, even if it wouldn't be quite as good as a regular stone pickaxe. Picking up the table, I looked around for my best route out of this predicament, and decided to carve a path through the middle of the boulder held in place by my shovel. The stone was too brittle or unstable everywhere else to mine through without risking a new collapse.

I gave the boulder an experimental tap. It held in place, and my makeshift pickaxe remained intact, so I started making myself an exit. It was tedious work, but I eventually made it through to the other side, just as the pickaxe broke. It wouldn't have lasted long anyways, there were no good materials to work with. Luckily, I hit dirt just before the pickaxe broke, so I wouldn't have to try breaking through a boulder with my bare hands or risk lighting off an explosive. As I began digging through the dirt, a smoky scent began to waft in. I assumed it was the torch, so I put it away since I knew how to get out, but the smoky aroma persisted. I started digging a little bit faster so I could see what was happening up on the surface.

As I broke through onto the surface, the first thing that greeted me was a sky filled with smoke. I could barely even see the Sun through the smoke, which almost seemed to be slightly larger and tinted red. The next thing I saw was that my house was completely ablaze. There was no hope of putting the fire out, so I ran to it and tried to salvage what I could before it burned down. I only managed to get my spare diamond pickaxe and a blanket before I couldn't breathe and had to get out. I wanted to salvage more, but as I was catching my breath, it collapsed. The house was perfectly fine before, why would it catch on fire now?

Then I remembered the generator. In the mine, the obsidian had been acting strangely and had allowed lava to flow through it. The same thing must've happened to the obsidian that had been protecting my generator area from catching fire. I had no idea why obsidian was suddenly acting so strangely, and why the cave walls had been so fragile, but it was no longer safe to stay in this area. I didn't have much food on me, so I checked the damage to my farm. While the fire had spread over to my farm, the carrots were in decent shape since they were underground, so I took some of them along with me, being careful to avoid the still-blazing fire. While I was harvesting the salvageable crops, I noticed that several of the nearby trees had also caught on fire, and this fire would soon spread to the forest and create a wildfire. It was definitely time to go.

I quickly untied my horse, who immediately tried to run off, but I caught her just in time. The horse and I went racing away, and we kept going until we came across a narrow river, which I tried to cross in the belief that the horse would be compliant with me. My horse took one step in and immediately started panicking, bucked me off onto the riverbank, and galloped away. I guess that was too much to ask. I dipped my foot into the water, only to pull it out again in surprise because it was unexpectedly warm. I assumed this warmth was because of the fire, yet it was strange that it would get this hot, but I was tired from all the exertion and adrenaline, so I didn't want to think too much about it tonight. There was no way I would be able to catch up to my horse on foot, so I decided to set up camp right here on the sand. I was a bit hungry, so I ate one of the carrots. I was going to share one with my horse too, but that wasn't really an option at the moment. It wasn't quite night yet, but I didn't care and fell asleep anyways.

* * *

 **Dark: That marks the end of chapter 2.**

 **WB: It took you almost a week to write this?**

 **Dark: Sorry, my city's been facing a heat wave recently, and it's slightly affecting my motivation.**

 **WB: Fair enough, just like the heat wave next chapter?**

 **Dark: Can you not try to spoil everything? I want to keep some things secret.**

 **WB: Sorry, I'll try not to spoil anything else, like the introduction of-**

 **Dark: ANYWAY, without further ado, see you in the next chapter!**


	3. Intensify

**Dark: Hello, nice to see those of you who made it this far!**

 **WB: Indeed, it is quite an accomplishment. 3 chapters, truly a harrowing ordeal. No idea how you've tolerated Dark for this long.**

 **Dark: Hardy har har.**

 **WB: Do many people even read these intros, or do they just skip straight to the story?**

 **Dark: I don't know, how should we test it?**

 **WB: Maybe reviewers could say the keyword of cake.**

 **Dark: That seems too easy, what about capriccio?**

 **WB: How many people would even know what that is without looking it up?**

 **Dark: What about cake capriccio?**

 **WB: Sure, why not? It doesn't make much sense, but neither do you sometimes.**

 **Dark: Alright, sounds good. Anyways, without further ado, enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

When I woke up, I found myself sweating profusely. At first I thought the fire had caught up to me, but the unmistakable smell of smoke was nowhere to be found in the air, and the telltale glow of a raging fire was absent. I tossed aside my blanket, stretched, and took a closer look around. It could swear it was just my imagination, but the water level in the river seemed lower than it was yesterday. The sky was clear of smoke now, but the sun looked just as gigantic and red as it seemed to be behind the smokescreen yesterday, which was unsettling, to say the least. The air around me also seemed drier, and the trees left unharmed by the fires appeared to be somewhat wilted.

Behind one of the taller trees in the forest, an Enderman was peeking out and watching me, but it teleported away before I could get a better look at it. I decided to ignore it, and ate some bread I forgot I had in my inventory for breakfast. It was a bit stale, but it would be filling enough for me to get through the day. As of right now, my house is a pile of ashes, my horse is likely long gone by now, and I have a limited food supply; the carrots, some bread, and two Golden Apples are all I have to work with. First thing though, I had to make some sort of shelter so I didn't have to sleep outside on the ground again.

I decided against building into a hill. Considering what had happened yesterday in the mines, it wasn't worth the risk. One glance at the wood supply in my inventory told me that most of it was singed beyond usability thanks to the fire, and would only be useful as charcoal. I'm not sure how many trees are left, but I want to try to conserve my wood supply until I can replant more, so a wooden house is off the table. Stone would normally be fine, but when I dug down, the stone I tried to mine acted much the same as it had in the cavern, crumbling quickly, so it would be useless to build with much like the obsidian. I could still make rudimentary tools with it, but large structures wouldn't be possible, at least not without time and a lot of planning.

As I thought more about this conundrum, the heat was beginning to bother me, so I decided I would take a dip in the river. I remembered how warm it was last night, so I dipped my toes in first to test it. The river water was even warmer than yesterday, too warm to make a difference, so I decided against that idea. I had to settle with taking my armor off, as much as I didn't want to because it would leave me much more open to attack. At least I still had my sword, just in case.

In my peripherals, I noticed the Enderman teleporting in and taking my blanket, which I had left on the ground. I tried to run and save it, but before I could stop the Enderman, it teleported away with my blanket. Well, there goes any chance I had of sleeping tonight. The dirt surrounding the river stuck together relatively well, thankfully not crumbling into a fine powder, so I made a primitive hut out of it. I would at least have protection against creatures who wanted to kill me. I thought back to yesterday, about the mobs who had ignored me. Did they sense the cave-in before it happened somehow? Even the zombies were smart enough to leave the cave, I didn't think they had the self-preservation skills necessary for such an action.

As I was contemplating this, a sudden massive explosion nearly gave me a heart attack. It was far stronger than any creeper detonations I've ever experienced, and a hundred TNT blocks going off all at once couldn't compare to its destructive power. It was so strong that it even shook the ground slightly, and as I looked around, a large mushroom cloud sprang up in the distance, soon followed by a large gust of wind which blew down my pitiful dirt hut and knocked me down so that I hit my head for the third time in two days. If this trend kept up, I would get a serious bruise on my head. The river swirled violently, and if I hadn't gone to chase after the Enderman who stole my blanket, I probably would've been swept up in it. I barely had time to realize this before there was a new explosion which was almost as extreme, right over where my house had been before it burned down, and I probably would've died if I had stayed in that area. I had time to prepare for the incoming shock wave this time, and dug downwards. Right as I had dug myself below ground level, a tree blasted by that probably would've decapitated me, armor or not. There were more explosions after that, but none as severe as the first two, and it went quiet after a few minutes, leaving my eyes ringing.

I waited for a few minutes until I regained my hearing, and it seemed to have stopped, so I went back up. The entire forest was flattened, no tree was left standing afterwards. A nearby mountain range, reduced to a fraction of what it once was. Craters of various sizes were scattered everywhere, luckily missing my immediate vicinity. Then the noises began. At first, it was quiet, barely audible. It slowly started to increase in volume, until it became painful and I had to cover my ears. Mobs who had survived the explosions began running around in sheer panic as the sky seemed to distort. The normally blue sky went berserk with colors, and the Sun began twitching in place. Stars appeared and disappeared at random, and the Moon suddenly appeared in the sky at the same time as the Sun. In addition, the Moon seemed abnormally close, and the Sun was twitching violently. The heat I had been facing all day suddenly felt much worse, and my skin felt like it was on fire.

Just then, a brilliant flash of light began that assaulted my eyesight. I began screaming in agony at all the pain which had been thrust onto me, then I was suddenly thrust into darkness as something which felt suspiciously like my blanket covered my entire body. After that point, I felt nauseated, and I fell unconscious, my body unable to cope with what it was experiencing. I don't remember exactly what was happening at that moment, but my body felt like it was being pulled apart atom by atom, and my mind was being forcibly wiped clean thought by thought. I just wanted it all to end, I didn't want to be alive for even a moment longer.

* * *

 **WB: Then everyone died, the end.**

 **Dark: No, they don't all die yet. The protagonist...**

 **WB: What?**

 **Dark: I just realized, I don't have a name for the protagonist yet.**

 **WB: Great job, 10/10 planning, much skilled, wow, so prepared.**

 **Dark: No big deal, I can give them a name next chapter.**

 **WB: I swear, if this error makes you quit-**

 **Dark: I'm not going to quit over one little oversight.**

 **WB: You better not. Name the Enderman too, while you're at it.**

 **Dark: I will. Don't worry, I have just the right name for it. Anyways, without further ado, see you all next chapter!**


	4. Inferences

**Dark: Hello, I have returned with a new chapter!**

 **WB: Two days? That was fast.**

 **Dark: I had a sudden burst of inspiration for the next few chapters, and I wanted to capitalize on it before it went away again.**

 **WB: So, the protagonist name?**

 **Dark: Yeah, I have it. Same with the Enderman.**

 **WB: Good, wouldn't want you to quit.**

 **Dark: I'm not going to quit based on that. Stop assuming I'm going to quit. Anyways, without further ado, enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

Pain everywhere. My head. My arms. My legs. My mind was unwilling to register anything but pain. Minutes passed, maybe hours, I couldn't tell. Eventually, my mind finally began to process things other than pain, but only the most basic of thoughts. I was still alive, that much I knew. The pain wouldn't let me forget it. I was covered in darkness. Something was covering me, something soft, fluffy, comfortable. The ground, not soft or fluffy. Rough, coarse, uncomfortable. I could barely move, much less get up from the ground. I tried to ignore the rough and coarse, and instead tried to focus on the soft and fluffy. Fluffy good, rough bad. Fluffy good, rough bad. Fluffy good, rough bad. This thought repeated itself over and over, my mind trying desperately to focus on something, anything that wasn't pain.

Something felt pokey. Something round. Something small. What was small and round? Snowballs. Snowballs were cold. The pokey thing wasn't cold. Therefore, not a snowball. Ender Pearls. Ender Pearls were glassy. The pokey thing felt like not glass, not hard enough. Therefore, not an Ender Pearl. What else? Apples are soft and round. I like apples. Apples are tasty. Especially Golden Apples. Golden Apples taste gooder than normal Apples. They taste tingly, and make me feel nice. Is it a Golden Apple? I like Golden Apples. They make me feel nice. Nice is good. Nice is not pain. Pain is not nice. Pain. Pain is not good. I don't like pain. I like Golden Apples. Is the pokey thing a Golden Apple? I like Golden Apples.

I want Golden Apple. How to get? Arms. Arms grab stuff. I have one, two arms. Therefore I can grab two stuffs. One arm, two arms. Pokey thing, things are stuff, my arms can grab stuff, therefore I can grab the pokey thing, which is also stuff. I moved my arm. Pain. I moved my arm again. Pain. I moved my arm again. More pain. Movement equals pain. Pain is bad. Movement is bad? Golden Apple is good. How to get Golden Apple? Movement. Movement is bad. Not getting Golden Apple is also bad, the opposite of bad is good. Getting Golden Apple is good, movement is bad? Golden Apple make me feel good, need bad for good? Bad is good? Bad is good to get more good?

My arm continued moving for the good Golden Apple, in spite of the bad pain. Pain is bad, but bad is good to get more good. My hand eventually grabbed the good Golden Apple. Now what? Want good, how use good Golden Apple? Mouth eats Apples. Mouth eats Golden Apples, too. Golden Apples are good. Therefore, eating Golden Apple is good. My arm slowly moved to my mouth. More pain. Pain is bad, but bad is good to get more good. The Golden Apple reached my mouth, and I eventually ate the Golden Apple. Golden Apples taste good. Less pain is good, and I had less pain. My arms moved easier, the pain began to fade, my body was feeling better and my mind was beginning to work a lot better. I realized the fluffy thing was my blanket. The darkness was thanks to my blanket. Remove the blanket, and I would be able to see what was happening. Before that though, I wanted to rest and fully regain my senses before I looked around, and I quickly fell soundly asleep for who knows how long.

I don't know how long I had been like that, but when I finally woke up, I was able to think much more clearly. The Golden Apple had really helped, and while my body was still aching, it wasn't nearly as painful as before, and I thankfully didn't seem to be missing any parts of me. I hoped my eyes weren't permanently damaged, but the only way to find out was to lift up the blanket and look at my surroundings. Part of me just wanted to keep the blanket over my head forever and avoid seeing whatever was left of the world, but I decided to just get it done, and I pushed my blanket off in one quick movement.

Whatever I was expecting to see, it certainly wasn't this. I was looking up, but there was no sky anywhere to be seen. Instead, just a red roof. A massive red roof which was really high above my head, made out of strange materials I had never seen before. Even stranger, it seemed to be leaking lava in some places. The ground I was on this whole time was also made out of the same red material. Everywhere I looked, there was a lot of red, only interrupted by gray, brown, and the occasional white. I had been lain on a rather wide platform which overlooked an expansive lake of lava. At the edges of the lava lake, there was gray stuff which was presumably either gravel or stone, though I couldn't say for sure since I was so far away. In the center of the lava lake, sitting on a red island, was a massive dark red fortress, with the only entrance point being a long bridge way over to my right. I could probably walk to it, but it would take a while to get over to the bridge. A warping noise behind me told me that my ears were working as well, and also that I wasn't alone on my platform.

I whirled around, half expecting to be promptly attacked, but it was the Enderman from before, who looked out at the lava lake. If it was here too, then it was a valid assumption to make that the Enderman had likely saved my life and had also brought me here, wherever here was. I turned to it and almost looked into its eyes, but remembered what would likely happen if I did that, so I simply looked in its general direction. It pointed at the fortress, pointed at me, pointed back to the fortress while making a guttural noise, and teleported away again. I took this to mean that it wanted me to go over to the fortress. I didn't have many options either way, so I decided to go to the fortress like it wanted. I picked up my blanket, and checked the rest of my inventory. Something felt missing, but I couldn't tell what it was, so I shrugged and began the long walk to the bridge, figuring it wasn't important.

* * *

 **WB: I didn't see any names.**

 **Dark: I didn't say I would reveal their names, I just said I would give them names.**

 **WB: Well played.**

 **Dark: You can expect their names to be revealed in 2-3 chapters.**

 **WB: So, the story is moving to the Nether now, eh?**

 **Dark: Yep. The collapse of the Nether will be a little bit different than the collapse of the Overworld.**

 **WB: How so?**

 **Dark: You'll see soon enough. Anyways, without further ado, see you all next chapter!**


	5. Impeded

**Dark: Hello, I have returned again for a new chapter!**

 **WB: Fun fact, we've hit the five chapter mark.**

 **Dark: You don't say?**

 **WB: Just in case you didn't know.**

 **Dark: Thanks.**

 **WB: No problem.**

 **Dark: Anyways, without further ado, enjoy the fifth chapter!**

* * *

I had been walking along a ledge for about 30 minutes when I encountered my first obstacle; the ledge I was using was quickly becoming too narrow to walk on. There was another ledge below, but it would probably hurt to jump down onto. I could also use the dirt I had built for my now non-existent hut to build across the gap until I reached a point where I could walk comfortably again, but given how unstable certain materials had recently become, I wasn't sure I wanted to take that risk. I took a third option, which was to use my pickaxe to forge a new path. I underestimated the fragility of the red material though, and broke through it almost immediately. The sudden breakage triggered a small material avalanche which made me lose my balance, pushed me down, and injured me anyways. It wasn't serious damage though, nothing compared to what I had recently gone through, so I brushed off some of the red dust and kept going along this new path.

Later, I came across a patch of the brown stuff I had been seeing. Though it resembled sand in a way, it almost seemed to be slightly swirling around, with tiny little faces forming occasionally. It felt disgusting to walk through, and it slowed me down, but I didn't have much of a choice since it was blocking my path, and my pickaxe was doing almost nothing to clear it. I could swear it was just my imagination, but the stuff seemed to be whispering to me. It was faint, but persistent, and I think I might've heard the word ' _sacrifice_ ' at one point. I quickened my pace, and I was soon out of the creepy substance.

As I kept walking past the gunk, I began to realize something which I really should've realized before. I was walking near a literal lake of lava, but I wasn't feeling very hot. I wasn't even sweating. The only major heat I was feeling were the occasional currents of hot air coming from the center. I looked out at the lake again, and the gray ring surrounding it seemed slightly larger than before. I was close enough to the bridge now to see two black figures who appeared to be fighting. After about 15 seconds, one gained the upper hand and knocked the other one off the bridge. It sunk into the lava below, and the other watched for a second before it turned to walk back to the fortress. I made a note to myself to try and avoid falling off, and then continued.

I finally reached the edge of the bridge, just as another black figure noticed my presence. I was now close enough to identify it, and it seemed to be a tall charred skeleton wielding a primitive stone blade. It began to run towards me, and judging by the way it held its weapon, it wasn't going to welcome me with open arms. I reached into my inventory to get my sword... and found it missing. That's what I must've been missing before when I had checked before. Figures, my weapon would go missing just when I finally needed it. I looked frantically to find some alternative, and settled on my pickaxe.

I expected the black skeleton to just charge straight at me, but it stopped right out of my reach and backed up. This caught me off guard, and it used that opportunity to charge back in and slashed at me. I barely managed to dodge before it came back at me, this time with a kick to my arms. The kick itself didn't hurt, but moments later, the black mark it left behind felt strangely hollow. My right arm went numb, and I dropped my pickaxe. Defenseless, it went in for another slash which I barely dodged, but the undead creature was quick. It got my left leg, which suddenly became dead weight. My numb arm was hurting now, and my foe only seemed to get stronger as I got weaker. It kicked me in the chest, and I went down, now having trouble breathing. There is no way I should've survived this fight, not against such a skilled opponent. Not by myself.

As it went in for the killing blow, it froze. It took a moment for me to register what had just happened, but an arrow had gone into its skull. Distracted, my foe looked up as another arrow went through its skull and into its empty eye socket. I took the opportunity to drag myself over to my pickaxe. I picked it up with my left hand, and threw it with my remaining strength. The charred skeleton went down, my pickaxe lodged firmly in its rib cage, and another arrow finished it off. Its bones crumbled into ashes, carried off by a gust of wind. I tried to find the source of the arrows, but whatever it was had vanished. I was reluctant to eat my last Golden Apple, but I didn't have much of a choice since another skeleton could come by at any time and I was too weak to defend myself, so I ate it. My injuries faded, feeling returned to my limbs, and I could breathe more easily. The black mark remained though, and I couldn't brush it off, which worried me. Nevertheless, I had to find out why I was brought here, and the fortress was my only clue. The bridge was extremely dangerous though, and if I came across any more of those skeletons, I would likely be killed if they were half as good as the one I had just fought, with no more Golden Apples left to heal me. Besides, no amount of Golden Apples would help me if I was knocked over the side into a lake of lava.

Just then, the Enderman teleported in again. Not in front of me, but up on a high ledge just away from the bridge. It made another noise to signal its location, then vanished when I discovered it up on the ledge. I picked up my pickaxe, as well as the stone weapon which the skeleton had dropped when it died. It wasn't my weapon of choice, but it was better than nothing. Then, I made my way over to the ledge. Remembering the small landslide before, I was careful when I mined this time, and made it to the top of the ledge without incident. As I reached the top, I found a small passageway which was invisible from down below. It was just large enough for me to walk inside, but too large for the Enderman or the deadly skeleton I had just fought. I hoped this meant it would be safer inside the tunnel than out on the bridge despite the lack of fighting room, so I took the chance and began to explore the tunnel.

* * *

 **WB: Hey Watcher321, I don't think an Ender Dragon would fit inside a Nether Fortress.**

 **Dark: Maybe if it squeezed.**

 **WB: No, its wings would get in the way.**

 **Dark: Not if it folded them.**

 **WB: Wait, wouldn't the Ender Dragon just destroy the fortress? Ha, I win by default!**

 **Dark: Fair enough, it destroys most things it touches. By the way, thanks to Watcher321, Zyro54, and FAC123, and also to those reading behind the scenes! You're all awesome!**

 **WB: Yeah, takes guts to stick with it for this long. Especially if you don't know whether or not he'll-**

 **Dark: Don't say 'finish the story'.**

 **WB: I was going to say 'give me a cake capriccio'.**

 **Dark: Uh huh, yeah, sure you were. Anyways, without further ado, see you all in the next chapter!**


	6. Instruction

**Dark: Hello, I have returned again!**

 **WB: Well, it's about time. Thought you were quitting again.**

 **Dark: Life tends to get in the way sometimes. If it makes you feel any better, I won a diamond sword that lights up at a carnival yesterday.**

 **WB: Not bad. Wait, why am I reminded of that scene from Despicable Me where Gru and the girls return from the carnival? If you're Gru, I guess that makes me Doctor Nefario.**

 **Dark: Also a stuffed turtle, but it's about the cheap quality you'd expect from a small carnival prize. I still like it though, the pattern on its shell is similar to the giant snake I won a few years back. Enough about carnival prizes, though. Without further ado, enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

As I traversed deeper into the tunnel, it grew darker, and I had to get out a torch so I wouldn't accidentally trip over something in the darkness. After about ten minutes and a lot of turns, the way grew light enough for me to see without the torch, so I put it away. The floor was spotted with some sort of light-producing dust that illuminated the path up ahead. The way also began to widen, enough that I could put out my arms and not touch the walls.

Eventually, the path in front of me opened up into a small clearing. The first thing I noticed was that it was almost perfectly square, suggesting this wasn't a natural cave formation. The second thing I noticed was that at the end of the clearing, a large and imposing iron door was embedded into the wall, surrounded by the same dark red material that the fortress was made of. The third thing I noticed, which I really should've noticed first, was that I wasn't alone in this clearing. There were also three skeletons, who turned to look at me.

Unlike the ones patrolling the fortress, these ones didn't have charred bones, and more closely resembled the ones I was familiar with. They just stood in place, watching me. They didn't seem overly hostile, just wary of my presence. Two of them held bows and wore iron chestplates. The other, whom I guessed was the leader of the group, wielded a stone sword and wore a gold helmet. It stepped forward towards me and seemed to examine me. After a few seconds, it nodded and raised the arm not holding a sword. The other two skeletons walked over to the iron door and opened it, then the three stepped aside and continued to watch me. I didn't know what to make of this, but I took this to mean that I had passed some kind of test. I ate another one of my carrots, which elicited no reaction from them. I cautiously walked up to the door, watching the skeletons the whole way, but they just kept watching me. I stepped through the door, they still didn't react, so I decided they wouldn't attack me and focused my attention on the contents of the room.

The most striking thing about the room was the table. It was made almost entirely of obsidian, and a red cloth was draped over it. The table had diamond reinforcements on the corners, likely explaining why it had stayed intact for so long given how the other obsidian had become dust. Sitting on top of the table was a book which almost seemed to be emitting what I could only describe as particles. Beside the table was a chest, which I decided to look inside first. It held a pumpkin, diamond boots, three bottles holding a glowing pink liquid, and a cluster of orange powder which felt warm to the touch. I decided to leave it all until I knew what the book said, there was no way to know otherwise if the chest was a trap. Nothing else in the room was particularly interesting to me, so I started reading the book. Some of it was incomprehensible since it used a foreign language, but most of the first few pages were understandable.

 _Hello, Player. If you are reading this, then I am dead or missing. I wanted to meet you personally, but I guess it wasn't meant to be. The world hates me even more than it hates you, so it's no surprise that I'd be one of the first targets. I'm going to spell this out as simply as I can. The world is ending. I've been told by the Ancient Ones that you're the only one who can save it. I'm gone, the Gods don't care, the Ancient Ones have no power here, and the mobs certainly aren't going to save it. Most mobs are already dead or dying. Those who aren't are either powerless to help, or are actively trying to increase the destruction. Your world is almost uninhabitable right now, only the strongest and smartest mobs will still be alive by this point. The mobs in this world are dying too, unable to tolerate the heat loss. The Blazes, the Magma Cubes, the Ghasts, all dead or hibernating in the lava lake. Even those hibernating will die, the lake is slowly solidifying._

 _The block collapse isn't as bad here thanks to the bedrock lining, but the Nether is essentially a massive cave system. Sooner or later, it will collapse in on itself, like the caves in your world._ _The End will be the last world to fall, but even just getting there will be difficult, if not impossible. Outsiders can't get in without the Eyes, which is why the Enderman brought you here instead of there. Sorry about that, by the way. Your body isn't designed for interdimensional teleportation, so you were probably in a lot of pain since you didn't come in via portal. The Ancient Ones told me its name will be Xybret'uW, which would best translate into your language as Western Bloom._

 _This next part is very important, so read carefully. You will only have one chance to get to the End, and your world has your only entrance. You won't survive if Western Bloom takes you back to your world his way, don't let it come to that. There is a portal in the fortress. Use that to return to your world, but do not let the portal get hit. It is made out of obsidian, one hit will destroy the obsidian, destabilize the portal, and you'll be stuck here until the Nether collapses or you're killed by Wither Skeletons. Be very careful of the Wither Skeletons. They're skilled fighters, and unlike the other Nether mobs, they thrive in the conditions this collapse is creating. They may even grow more intelligent, enough so to rival Endermen. I wouldn't be surprised if they've begun planning something big, without myself or any other mobs to keep them in check. You'll find some potions in the chest, they're called healing potions. Undead creatures hate them, you can use the potions to either heal yourself or to hurt the skeletons. I'll leave that to your judgment._

 _Once you're through the portal and are back in your world, find the stronghold, and find it as soon as possible. You don't want to stay out in the open for too long, and you'll only be able to survive for a few hours at most, if I've calculated correctly. One good thing about the collapse is that it'll probably leave the stronghold exposed, so it should be relatively easy to find. Winter Bloom will probably help you too, if it's not immediately obvious where it is. The portal in the stronghold will grant you access to the End, but you'll need to activate it first. You'll need the Eyes of Ender to open the portal, which you can make by mixing your Ender Pearls with the powder in the chest. Fun fact, Endermen like pumpkins. Wear the pumpkin on your head, and they won't hate you if you look at them. This fact will probably help you once you're in the End, since it's the home of the Endermen. As for the boots, use your imagination._

 _Since I'm not around, this is all I can do to help you. You'll have to figure the rest out yourself once you're in the End. If you need more armor or a bow and some arrows, feel free to take them from the skeleton guards. They won't attack you, they've been specifically commanded to assist you. You won't be able to take the guards with you though, they'll guard this room until they die. Skeletons get really dedicated when it comes to guarding things. You'll have to leave this book behind, too, since it's magically bound to the table. I had to, books don't survive long in such a normally hot environment without magic reinforcement. Memorize the contents of this book and heed my guidance, there is literally no other way to survive. Good luck, Player, you'll need it._

I tried to figure out who wrote the book, but the only indication I could find was a signature which simply read ' _Hero'._ Everything else was in a different language, so I put the book down. I took the contents of the chest and put them away for later, putting on the boots. Thinking about what I had just read, I didn't have a reason to not follow the advice. Whoever had left this book and those supplies for me clearly didn't mean me harm, they or the skeleton guards could've easily killed me while I was busy reading. The room hadn't changed, so no traps had been set off either. I left them room, and the skeleton guards turned to look at me again. After a moment, they kneeled.

The leader took off its golden helmet, and held it out to me. The second took off its iron chestplate, and the other held out its bow and about 8 arrows. I don't think I could even get into the fortress with just a stone sword and diamond boots, let alone reach the portal, so these items would certainly help. After pausing for a second, I took the offerings. It felt good to have armor again, I felt a lot safer. I've fired a bow before, but I'm not particularly good at it. Nevertheless, I took it anyways, it could come in handy. Their offerings accepted, the skeletons rose and went back to their original positions, still watching me. Feeling better about my chances, I left the clearing and headed back through the tunnel so I could once again attempt to cross the bridge.

* * *

 **Dark: This chapter was interesting for me to write.**

 **WB: Dark...**

 **Dark: What?**

 **WB: Did you really name the protagonist Player?**

 **Dark: Yep.**

 **WB: Player? Seriously?**

 **Dark: Sometimes, the most simple solution is the best solution.**

 **WB: Isn't Player a bit too simple?**

 **Dark: Nah.**

 **WB: Okay, fine, you're the boss here. Player it is. I still think it sounds stupid though, naming the player character Player. At least the Enderman name is decent.**

 **Dark: Anyway, without further ado, see you all next chapter!**


	7. Interim

**Dark: Hello everyone...**

 **WB: I don't like those ellipses. You've also been gone for a while without updates.**

 **Dark: Yeah, about that...**

 **WB: I swear to Notch, if you say you're canceling this-**

 **Dark: How many times do I have to say it? I'm not canceling this, I will complete it.**

 **WB: So, where's the chapter?**

 **Dark: Here's the thing, I haven't had enough free time to work on it. August is going to be a very busy month for me. I have a lot of volunteering lined up in both a theatre festival and an anime convention. On top of that, I'm going to attend the theatre festival for a few extra days with family which cuts further into my free time and internet access, I'm also attending a separate theatre intensive course, and I'm going to have to start worrying about university and student loans again soon, which further diverts my attention. Point is, this story will be going into a temporary hiatus until my schedule calms down and my free time is returned, probably sometime in early September.**

 **WB: Okay, I suppose that's fine. I'll try to keep up _WB Writes Poetry,_ so you take the time you need to focus on your August activities.**

 **Dark: You're taking this better than I thought you would.**

 **WB: Better to get back to it when you're ready than try to rush out a half-decent story. Besides, I'm the least of your problems.**

 **Dark: Sorry about this, everyone. This story is going on longer than I originally thought it would, just think of this as the halfway marker. Anyways, I'll try to have a new chapter in early September, so see you then!**


End file.
